30 CANADA AND THE EMPIRE.

whatever over the Canadian branch. This Labour
Union has passed a resolution sympathising with
the British trades unions in condemning Mr. Chamberlain’s
 “ capitalistic” policy. The resolution was
not unanimous, but many of the men who opposed
it, including the leader of the opposition, have since
learnt facts of which they were then in ignorance,
and are in consequence now opposed to Mr,
Chamberlain’s policy.
The other union, which is much smaller, has
not discussed Mr. Chamberlain’s policy, but has
passed a resolution demanding higher protection,
The Labour party, like the Labour party in
Australia, is inclined to resist any attempt to
bring skilled labour into Canada. In particular
it resents the action of a labour bureau in London
which is accused of posing as a Government office
and of being financed by a manufacturers’ association
 for the purpose of bringing operatives to
Canada under contract not to join unions, and to
accept a wage higher than that given in England,
but lower than the standard wage in Canada. It
is certain that the real wages in Canada are far
lower than they are represented to be, even though
the abundance of food, the free land in the North-West,
 and the scarcity of labour keeps them fairly
high. But in a Protectionist country necessities
are dear, and the authors met many working men
who complained of being induced under false
representations to change their homes for unimportant
 or non-existent advantages.